


Plenty of Seas in the Universe

by JayCKx



Category: EOS 10 (Podcast)
Genre: Beach Holidays, Beaches, Day At The Beach, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-31
Updated: 2019-01-31
Packaged: 2019-10-20 03:35:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,961
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17614658
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JayCKx/pseuds/JayCKx
Summary: Ryan, Akmazian and Maddox visit the beach together.





	Plenty of Seas in the Universe

**Author's Note:**

> The truth is I'm afraid of season 4 and since I can't listen to it yet, this is my way of coping. By writing my ridiculously fluffy Ideal Scenario. Give them a beach day!

The cerulean water lapped rhythmically at Ryan's ankles, just teetering on the edge of too-cold and raising goosebumps on his skin. The soft squish of the pale sand as he dug his toes in was satisfying, though, and the pleasant warmth of the golden sun was a delightful contrast to the ocean. He rolled his shoulders back and tilted his head to the sky, eyes fluttering shut and a smile crawling its way across his face. He let a pleased hum escape him. To his right a familiar low chuckle rumbled outwards. 

 

"Enjoying yourself there, Ry?" Akmazian teased, squeezing their interlaced hands. Ryan cracked open an eye and smiled at him. 

"Absolutely. I mean, it's not like I have the chance to bask in the sunshine very often back on EOS 10," he replied lazily. Akmazian ducked his head in acknowledgement. "Yeah, I'll be that's true," he muttered, eyes gleaming. "Just look how pale you are!" His other hand reached out to pinch Ryan on the ribs, making him yelp and jump away, subsequently splashing Akmazian with frigid water and colliding with Maddox on his left. David stumbled slightly, but recovered quickly and disentangled his hand from Ryan's left in favour of wrapping it around his waist. Ryan glanced upwards and leaned easily into the taller man, eyeing Akmazian warily. 

 

Akmazian stared at the recently soaked hem of his shirt, then back up to Ryan. His eyes narrowed. 

"Oh, that's it," he started, and shifted like he was about to kick water over onto Ryan and David.

"If you get me wet, Ak, I swear to god I will ruin your life," Maddox warned, glaring. Akmazian paused and gazed at him calculatingly--Ryan just knew he was trying to figure out exactly how to splash Ryan without hitting David. Ryan raised an eyebrow daringly at Akmazian, waiting to see if he'd follow through on his threat. Apparently David also knew exactly what Akmazian was thinking, because he tugged Ryan closer and wrapped both arms around him, dropping a quick kiss into his pink hair. 

"Also, you're not allowed to get my human shield wet either," he smirked. Ryan gaped at him. 

"Wha--human shield!? I'll show you human shield!" he yelled, wriggling out of his boyfriend's grip and stomping hard, making a tiny splash of water and sand flick its way up Maddox's legs. The man just gave him an unimpressed look, when suddenly a wave of cold splattered against Ryan's back. He turned, spluttering, and levelled his most murderous glare at Akmazian, who held a cheeky grin and dripping hands. 

 

"You're dead," Ryan warned, and lunged towards him, kicking up a storm of salt water.  
Akmazian laughed and fended him off with upsetting ease, splashing Ryan back with vigour. 

"Shit!" Ryan shrieked after a particularly big splash. "You got my shirt soaking wet!"  


"Why don't you take it off then," Akmazian leered, and flashed a flirtatious wink. Ryan narrowed his eyes, but... well, he was drenched anyway, what harm could it do? He ducked his head and pulled his shirt off in one swift movement, chucking it onto the sand and turning back to face his boyfriend. Behind him, Maddox's manic laughter was abruptly cut off with a choked wheeze, which made Ryan smile. And, judging by Akmazian's stunned silence and wide eyes, he hadn't actually expected Ryan to go through with it. 

 

Ryan kicked a huge wave water at Akmazian. The other man flinched and snapped out of his shock, a downright dangerous look appearing on his face. Never one to be outdone, he quickly tore his own shirt off and chucked it in the sand, before rounding on Ryan. 

“Oh, crap, David?” he began backing away further into the sea and away from Ak’s outstretched hands. 

“Yeah?” Maddox replied dazedly, and when Ryan looked over he was still staring at Ryan’s chest. 

“Protect me!” Ryan screeched when Akmazian lunged, and stumbled further away into the gentle rolls of waves. David laughed as Akmazian grabbed at Ryan, then pulled his own shirt off and threw it on the dry sand before wading in after them. Ryan fought Akmazian off, the other man grinning with wild determination, but couldn’t help the burst of shocked laughter that escaped him when Akmazian managed to get both hands around his waist and _lift him into the air_. 

“Oh my God!” he exclaimed, clutching at Akmazian’s arms. 

“Hold your breath!” he hollered. Ryan’s eyes widened. 

“No, no, don’t you dare! Ak, I swear, if you drop me--” he struggled to get out of his boyfriend’s arms, and Akmazian stumbled. 

“Whoa, good doctor, calm down,” he laughed, “I’m not gonna dunk you!” Ryan shot him a glare, then leaned to the side to see where Maddox was standing waist-deep in the water. He looked at him pleadingly. 

“Babe, help me out!” he whined. David just laughed at him, the traitor. Ryan scowled and wriggled around, but froze when Akmazian’s grip on him slipped. 

 

His eyes widened and suddenly he was sliding, falling, and then he was crashing and submerged in the water and _fuck_ , that was _cold_! He took a moment to find his feet in the sand as a wave softly pushed him around, then burst sputtering out of the water. Akmazian’s eyes were wide with shock, but he was giggling, whereas David was practically bent in half cry-laughing. Soggy pink hair flopped into Ryan’s eyes, and he swept it out of the way in annoyance, looking murderously at Akmazian. 

“You dropped me,” he hissed. 

"I’m sorry,” Akmazian managed between laughter, reaching out to him apologetically. “I honestly didn’t mean to, darlin’, my apologies.” Ryan crossed his arms and harrumphed, but didn’t pull away when Akmazian pulled him into a hug. It was just an opportunity to get Akmazian wet in return, and hey, he was really warm. 

“Sorry,” Akmazian repeated, and tilted Ryan’s face up for a kiss. Ryan (begrudgingly) let him. Then David sloshed over to them and flopped over Akmazian’s back, pouting.  


“Do _I_ get a kiss?” he asked. 

“I don’t recall dropping _you_ into the water,” Akmazian pulled away from Ryan to say. Maddox poked his tongue out childishly, and Ryan disentangled himself from Akmazian to grab David’s arm. 

“You’re my favourite now, seeing as you haven’t dropped me in the ocean,” he stated. Akmazian let out an offended puff of air, but David smiled indulgently and slid off Akmazian’s back so he could hold Ryan’s hand. 

“You say that like I wasn’t already your favourite,” he teased. Ryan tilted his head up expectantly, and Maddox kissed him softly on the mouth once, twice, then pulled away and dropped a kiss onto his forehead. (Ryan wasn’t blushing, okay). Akmazian pouted at them, to which Ryan just laughed. He let go of Maddox’s hand and drifted into deeper water again, bracing himself against the cool temperature until his body slowly adjusted to it. 

 

Ryan had been swimming since he was a child, it was practically second nature to him. Of course, on EOS 10 the only place to go swimming was a chlorinated pool, and the sea was different in a lot of ways. For example, he was constantly surfacing to rub the salty brine out of his eyes, because it stung like nothing else. There was a current here, too: it swept him up gently, trying to coerce him into floating out into the deep water; but Ryan fought it back with ease and a few lazy kicks. He bobbed on the waves as they rolled in, too calm to crash and break into white foam, but just strong enough to lift him up and down. He floated on his back, and sunk into the familiar sense of peace that came with the sound of his ears being underwater. Ryan soon realised was probably getting sunburned, though--this planet’s ozone layer left much to be desired. 

 

He twisted in the water and flipped over. It only took a few strokes to bring him to where he could touch the ground, and when he looked up it was to a heart-warming sight. Maddox was clinging to Akmazian like an octopus, arms looped around his neck and legs wrapped around Akmazian’s waist. Akmazian held him up with ease in navel-deep water, and their foreheads were pressed together, Akmazian murmuring something while Maddox smiled fondly. It made Ryan’s chest hurt in an uncomfortable, squeezing kind of way--he almost couldn’t bear it. He was really, really happy; he wondered briefly if the chip in his brain was going to kick in, because surely anything that made his heart feel like this couldn’t be normal. 

He quietly swam to shore and wandered up the sand, picking up their shirts and hissing at the burning grains of sand, until he reached their bags. He shoved the shirts in haphazardly and dug around as quick as possible until he pulled out an old Earth polaroid camera. He didn’t really know why, but he loved the thing and it made this holiday feel perfect: there was just something about holding a picture in his hands and watching it slowly develop rather than seeing it projected onto a screen, something that made everything so much realer and tangible, that truly captured the frozen moment. With that in mind, he brought the camera up to his face and focused it on the pair still in the water--both still smiling, with their heads ducked down like they were sharing a sweet secret--and snapped a photo. 

The film began to print immediately, and he carefully dried his hands off on a towel before grabbing it. He watched for a minute as the photo developed, taking in the individual little details: the sapphire glittering of the water, the way Akmazian’s dark skin shone in the light, the contented curl of David’s body as he was effortlessly held up. That warm, fuzzy feeling bloomed in Ryan’s chest again, and he smiled before carefully putting the camera and the photo away. 

 

“Do you guys want ice cream?” he shouted to the pair, who looked over at him from their position in the water.  


“Who’d say no to that?” Akmazian called back, and Maddox shot him a thumbs up.  


“Well, are you coming? I’m not carrying three back!” Ryan yelled impatiently, but when David and Akmazian linked their hands with his and bumped their shoulders together as they walked along the shore, it became really hard to keep a stupidly-in-love grin off his face. 

 

For a long time after that trip, four photos sat on Ryan’s bedside table, neatly framed together and obviously cherished. One was of Akmazian and Maddox holding each other happily in the ocean; another was of David with his legs buried in the sand, eyes squinting joyously as he grinned and Ryan tossing his head back with laughter as he patted more sand down; the next was of Akmazian lounging in a hammock with Ryan curled up next to him, eyes shut and a content little smile on both of their faces as the shade from a tree played across their features; and the final one was a selfie, the shot slightly blurry but picking up clearly on way all three could barely keep the grins off their faces, David and Ak leaning in to press a kiss against both of Ryan’s cheeks, and Ryan blushing lightly with a huge grin on his face and his eyes fluttered shut. It captured the burning orange sunset behind them in a blur of vibrant colour. Every time Ryan glanced at those photos, just before he went to bed and as soon as he woke up, that same warm, lovely feeling in his chest bubbled up and he couldn’t help but smile.


End file.
